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for him, even though you know that he will fall down many times and give himself severe bumps in his ongoing toward perfect physical manhood.

We are in the process of growth into the highest spiritual manhood and womanhood. We get many falls and bumps on the way, but only through these, not necessarily by them, can our growth proceed. Father and mother, no matter how strong or deep their love, cannot grow for their children; nor can God, who is Omnipotence, at the center of our being, grow spiritually for us without making of us automatons instead of individuals.

If you keep your thoughts turned toward the external of yourself or of others, you will see only the things that are not real, but temporal, and that pass away. All the faults, failures, or lacks in people or circumstances will seem very real to you, and you will be unhappy and sick.

If you turn your thoughts away from the4xternal toward the spiritual and let them dwell on the good in yourself and in others, all the apparent evil will first drop out of your thoughts and then out of your life. Paul understood this when he wrote to the Philippians: "Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things" (Phil. 4:8).